Following the 2011 Arab Spring’s riots and apparent difficulty predicting such events worldwide, the study is interested in developing a new macroscopic approach that utilizes quantitative aspects of the issue to generate a systemic view. Building on existing knowledge, considering the design of an eclectic theoretical framework for the emergence of the riots, the study conducts an analysis of their political, economic, social and technological factors. From the analysis the study has considered three main categories of riots: the ethnic-religious riots, the socioeconomic riots, and the mass-political riots.
In the second part of the research we have addressed the issue from quantitative perspective. Initially, we conducted bivariate analysis between the different categories of riots and the different variables grouped in the political, economic, social and technological areas. Statistical analysis of these variables points out that the different spheres of variables act differently on different categories of riots. The study has also remarked that the mass-political riots are mainly sensitive to countries' political factors. Socio-economic riots in our sample are tightly bound to social and economic variables. Finally, ethnic-religious riots are related to social variables, especially ethnical and religious homogeneity. These findings may seem tautological, but our study leads us to think otherwise. This study identifies an interesting relationships: various types of riots, as we have established, have a direct link to certain spheres of variables, following a quantitative logic.
Additionally, we developed statistical models through multiple linear regressions. For each type of riot, a specific model has been created. The study utilizes a comprehensive model to understand the riots as a whole, as well as specific models designed to analyze subcategories of riots. Second important point of the study: it is possible to build reliable statistical models to analyze the riots in a macroscopic approach and they vary based on the categories of riots. Thus, our main multivariate model explains 50% of the riots rate’s variance.